The SQL procedure might generate incorrect results when you copy a SAS data set from one platform to another. The problem occurs because PROC SQL incorrectly uses the sort flag for the data set without considering the collating sequence. EBCDIC and ASCII code pages have different sorting orders. Not considering special characters, the ASCII code page sorts values in this order: 0-9 A-Z a-z. The EBCDIC code page sorts values in this order: a-z A-Z 0-9.

When a SAS data set is copied to another platform, the data is transcoded. The data set does not appear sorted on the target platform because the data is still sorted according to the sort order from the previous location. For example, suppose you create a SAS data set and sort it in the z/OS environment and you then copy it to a Windows environment. In that case, the actual data is ASCII encoded after it is transferred, but the data is sorted according to the EBCDIC sort order because the data set's previous location was on an EBCDIC-based machine under z/OS.

To work around this problem, remove the sort indicator flag by using the SORTEDBY=_NULL_ data set option when you reference the table in PROC SQL.

Select the Hot Fix tab in this note to access the hot fix for this issue.

Operating System and Release Information

A fix for SAS 9.1.3 (9.1 TS1M3) for this issue is available at:

A fix for SAS 9.1.3 (9.1 TS1M3) with Asian Language Support (DBCS) for this issue is available at: